Paleo OMG

You may have heard about the paleo, primal or ‘caveman’ diet. You may have read about some of my own primal adventures on this blog. More than just a diet, the paleo/primal approach is about challenging conventional (and often commercially-driven) wisdom and living a healthier life in all respects. It starts with food but also integrates efficient movement, sufficient sleep, stress management, play and more.

You may know someone who’s had great success with this lifestyle. I have a friend who’s embracing it after 16 years as a vegetarian (with the majority of that time being vegan) and has never felt better. My still-vegetarian brother has limited his grain intake and among other benefits, it’s kept his asthma in check. A friend of his is playing squash again for the first time in years now that his joint pain has gone away, thanks to eliminating grains.

I myself have never felt better. I’m currently approaching the 4-week point of a Whole30 + autoimmune protocol. In short, I have not been eating grains, sugar, dairy, eggs, fruits, nuts, seeds, seed-based spices, soy products and nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, all kinds of peppers). Believe it or not, it’s not as restrictive as it seems! I’ve been enjoying plenty of diverse vegetables, herbs and quality meat and fish. It’s an elimination diet where I’ll slowly start reintroducing these foods (except the grains and sugar which will be reserved for very very very rare and special occasions) and hopefully determine whether there are any that my body doesn’t like.

I’ll blog properly about that experience soon. For now, I wanted to share some of the resources that have served to enlighten, educate, inspire and support me along this transformation over the past couple of years. A lot of people have been asking me about it lately so I thought I’d compile this list.

I'm Lulu Kitololo, artist and designer, and Afri-love is about loving yourself and the freedom to be yourself. I hope to inspire and support other African and diaspora creatives to be true to themselves in creating the businesses and lives they want.